Greater New Orleans

Ted tells his 'Tales'

It's amber colored, mildly sweet, warm on the tongue but not hot, with the slight tannic bitterness of iced tea. The mellow can't-put-your-finger-on-it flavor invites one analytic sip after another.

"It's not what you'd expect," said Ted Breaux, as he gazed proudly at a glass of his latest creation, Perique, a tobacco-based liqueur. "People think it'll taste like a big chew."

Like his unexpectedly refined tobacco brew, Breaux, 41, is not what you'd expect. Muscular and swaggering, discussing custom Harleys, vintage Fords and his devotion to Dixie beer, Breaux seems anything but the lab coat type, or the aperitif type for that matter. Yet chemically decoding and meticulously recreating historic cordials from heirloom herbs has made New Orleans-born Breaux famous among cocktail connoisseurs, bohemians and fellow bikers from Paris to Tokyo.

Above all Breaux is in the mystique business. A decade ago, the Tulane University graduate decoded the exact contents of the long-outlawed, high-octane aperitif absinthe, including the compound thujone, derived from an herb called wormwood, once used as an insecticide. The wormwood content of absinthe was said to have helped inspire Oscar Wilde to quarrel with his wallpaper, the model in Degas' "Absinthe Drinker" to stare zombie-like into space, and Van Gogh to cut off his ear.

It's not surprising that absinthe was popular in Storyville-era New Orleans.

The surprise, Breaux said, was that the thujone levels in vintage absinthe were slight. So slight that he became convinced absinthe wasn't so dangerous after all. The almost global pre-World War I banning of the deleterious distillate may have been nothing more than the product of abolitionist zeal.

Armed with his science-based theories, Breaux jetted off to France in the mid-1990s and busied himself lovingly recreating various authentic absinthe recipes for a new generation of artists, writers and alcohol aficionados -- not to mention his best customers, a clan of Scottish bikers who drink it by the gallon at an Edinburgh pub.

The sophisticated shadiness of sipping so notorious a potion seems to be a big part of the appeal.

Breaux assures his American fans that, though most of his products have not been OK'd by the Food and Drug Administration, they can sample his concoctions without fear of Eliot Ness crashing through the door and slapping on the cuffs.

"Current law does not specifically prohibit absinthe," he contends.

Though he admits that "technically one isn't supposed to import any food or beverage that isn't specifically permitted for U.S. distribution," with a visit to www.absintheonline.com and a few clicks of the keyboard, bottles of Breaux's creations can appear, beneath the radar, at the naughty consumer's door.

"It's no more illegal to possess than unpasteurized cheese," Breaux said at a recent tasting.

Better yet, Breaux is happy to report that after months of pleading and thousands of dollars in legal fees, he has convinced the FDA that one of his products, an absinthe he's dubbed Lucid -- alluding to the romantic reputation absinthe had among belle epoque writers and artists that despite its high alcoholic content, it did not impede the mental processes -- is safe for American consumption. Breaux is seeking a Louisiana distributor so that Lucid can be sold in local bars. It is available now in New York.

Owing to the stigma of tobacco, Breaux is pessimistic that Perique will ever gain similar government approval. Not that it has the same debilitating effects as smoking. One might assume Perique could be used as a cigarette substitute in the new smoke-free environments of bars and restaurants, but Breaux assures that the distillation process removes addictive nicotine. That comes as a relief to other potential customers.

"I get more people who are afraid it's going to make them want to smoke again," he said.

Perique is not the first tobacco-flavored liqueur. The owner of the French distillery where Breaux brews absinthe, brought his attention to a successful Japanese tobacco cordial that he suspected the Louisiana chemist could improve upon.

Disdainful of the Japanese product, Breaux knew there was a rare Louisiana tobacco called Perique that was bold enough to stand up to the distilling process.

He'd first learned about the tobacco -- grown and processed by an aged farmer on a few acres in St. James Parish -- in a Times-Picayune newspaper article.

Perique has a distinct character to begin with, which is only amplified by the pressure fermentation process that dates back to an American Indian custom of curing tobacco in a hollow log.

A nonsmoker, Breaux tasted a sample of the tobacco he describes as a "earthy, chocolaty compost."

"The Japanese," he said, "were blown away." Though a Japanese liquor distributor offered to buy Breaux's entire output, he demurred, holding back enough to give the rest of the world market a taste.

Breaux worried that the American Spirit cigarette-makers might resent his cutting into the scant world supply of Perique. Instead, he said, they bought 40 bottles for a convention in the Bahamas.

Breaux, whose Lakeview home flooded after Katrina, has moved to Birmingham, Ala., "800 feet above the flood line." He will discuss Perique at Tales of the Cocktail today. He shared samples of his absinthes at last year's Tales of the Cocktail and will preside over an encore presentation on Sunday, promising he will "have display bottles" with him.

TED BREAUX AT TALES

What: Ted Breaux, distologist and scientist, participates in two events during the Tales of the Cocktail.

Today: Breaux will participate in "Enter the Distologist," in which a panel of experts will discuss the trend of mixologists creating their own spirits. The panel will be led by Ryan Magerian of Aviation Gin and includes Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown, co-founders of the Museum of the American Cocktail; Ryan Magerian of Aviation Gin; LeNell Smothers of LeNell Smothers Wine and Spirits.

Sunday: Breaux leads a discussion on the history of absinthe, touching on modern misunderstandings and myths. Participants will view antique memorabilia, take a taste and receive their own absinthe spoon from La Maison d'Absinthe.

When: Both events are at 10 a.m.

Where: 'Distologist' is in the Vieux Carre Room and 'Absinthe' will be in the Riverview room, both at the Monteleone Hotel, 214 Royal St.

Tickets: Each event costs $35 to attend. If still available, tickets will be sold at the hotel or by calling (504) 377-7935.